Brief
You must write 300-1000 word story about you based on loss. You must find a compelling way of expressing your story in typographic form.
My Story
November 2008, ever since I was young I wanted nothing more then to join the parachute regiment, the idea of it thrilled me and I would do anything to get there. Year 11, when everyone was preparing for there college interviews I had my own interviews to worry about, interviews for Harrogate Army Foundation College. This process involved filling in countless forms and participating in a number of tests to access my mental and physical abilities.
March 2009, after all the hard work and effort I had given, I had made it, my dreams of becoming a paratrooper were coming true.
February 2009, my eyes opened for a split second. Everything was blurred and surreal. The only words I can recall were from an unfamiliar voice: “Can you stand?” followed by “Can you walk?” Everything felt slowed down and my eyes were too heavy to stay open any longer. Ten seconds (or was it really ten minutes?) later I managed to reopen my eyes. I was disorientated and couldn’t make anything out except for a vibrant, repeating flash of blue light.
“It’s about time you came back around. How’re you feeling?” This time my eyes opened with ease. The pure white walls, the clean white sink, the crisp white bed sheets, the box of rubber gloves on the table and the overwhelming smell of bleach. I didn’t take me long to understand where I was – hospital. But I didn’t understand why I was there. What had happened to me? Over the following hour my teacher filled in the gaps – I’d had a fit on the airplane home. The plane had to make and early landing in Heathrow And I’d been taken to the nearest hospital.
It wasn’t until later, when a doctor came to speak to me, that I got a full explanation. A ‘one-off’ seizure can happen to anyone and so to be tested for epilepsy at this point would be both a waste of time and a waste
of money.
April 2009, two months later it came. A white envelope with ‘The British Army’ printed in the bottom right hand corner. It looked exactly the same as recruitment letters I’d previously received, but I knew this one was different, I knew what it was going to say would mark the end of it all - my life’s ambition ended before it had even begun. I opened the letter and read it – my place at ‘Harrogate Army Foundation College’ had been deferred for 5 years. A bittersweet moment. Not as bad as the news I had been expecting but still my career was on hold for 5 whole years.
August 2010, 5 clear hot days on a campsite in Newquay with 5 of my closest mates. It was a proper lads holiday – drinking, surfing and chilling out. It was our first holiday without adult supervision, so it’s safe to say it was a memorable one. It was our last day and we had an hour to wait for the coach. Four nights of minimal sleep was catching up with me so I decided to lie down and have a quick nap before the coach came. It didn’t take long for me to fall asleep.
I woke up feeling more tired than I did before my nap. People were carrying me. Still feeling half asleep I couldn’t make out who they were. I assumed it was my friends playing another prank, which had been an on going thing throughout our time away and I felt too tired to fight back at them. Then I felt a sharp prick in my right arm and that was when I knew something wasn’t right. I felt frightened and using all the strength I could summon I tried to pull myself free from the hands of the people holding me, but it wasn’t enough.
When I came around I could see my parents, a doctor, two paramedics and Josh, a lad from the holiday, standing next to where I lay. The pungent smell of bleach was all I needed to remind me where I was and what had happened. I put on a brave face but I was hurt both physically, from the strain of the seizure on my muscles and a bite wound through my tongue, but even more so mentally. This time it was definitely over and I was consumed by the fact that I would now be denied entry – my aspirations torn apart.
To connect my audience to my story emotionally I sent out letters rejecting students of their dream job as a child. These letters then made the content of the book.
